Yakaiyastai Nanabah Gorman-Etl

Program Coordinator

Northwest Indian College Alumni, current student of Antioch University, Yakaiyastai Nanabah Gorman-Etl, is originally from Steamboat, Arizona, of the Navajo and Cheyenne Tribes. The first daughter of eight children to Beverly and Emerson Gorman. Yakaiyastai is a young indigenous scholar, mother, and wife who strives to learn more about preserving inherent rights for future generations through higher education. Along with learning her foundational traditional knowledge of Navajo teachings, she is self-taught in traditional herbal medicine, holistic healing, and food sovereignty. She grew up with a father known as a traditional medicine man and a mother who worked for John Hopkins Center for American Indian Health Center as a researcher. In a traditional hogan without running water or electricity, she is Navajo spoken as their first language and raised with Navajo structural influence. She learned the importance of traditional values, holistic health, and knowledge as they connect to a sense of place as well as the person, she would become to help her surrounding communities. Currently, she has worked in various capacities as a Wellness Coordinator at Northwest Indian College and an Environmental Science Instructor. Having learned the importance of healing and medicine from both Traditional and Western medicine spectrums, she utilizes her knowledge to bring equitable health initiatives on behalf of indigenous people through her work as a Behavioral Health Program Coordinator, interim Community Health Program Coordinator and now as a Director for Indigenous Health Education with Northwest Indian College.